Captain Hudson had been considering the situation and wondering what to do, when the decision was taken out of his hands.

His vidlink rang through to his quarters, and he looked up.

"Admiral."

"Captain, we have a problem. Macronesian forces have broken through one of our lines, we need you to go and regain our position there."

"Admiral, I was just about to call you. There was an accident during our last engagement. Ensign Wolenczak was badly hurt, he's currently recovering in sickbay."

"Will he be able to return to his post soon?"

"No, I'm afraid it's not going to be so straightforward, he's..."

The admiral cut him off. "Look, we don't have time to waste, we need you there a.s.a.p. At top speed, you are three hours away from the nearest port. You will need to stop there to refuel and pick up supplies - I expect that to take no more than an hour. Then I expect you to be underway. I will make arrangements to have an ambulance pick up your crewman and he can recover in the UEO medical center there while you are gone. You can collect him again on your return."

"Admiral, I have never abandoned one of my crewmen!"

"Then this can be your first time! You are going into a war zone, casualties are to be expected, you are certainly not going to go with your medical team already distracted."

"Admiral, I will not..."

"Captain Hudson, this is not a recommendation, it is an order. Your crewman will be collected at the next port, where I am sure he will be able to receive a better standard of care than he would receive in a med bay on a submarine! Are we clear on this, Captain?"

Hudson knew there was nothing further that he could do. "Crystal clear, Sir."

The transmission ended. Hudson sank into his chair and rubbed his hand across his face. He knew the way everybody on the boat felt about the boy, and he was also well aware that many of those people felt he was unnecessarily harsh with him. How were those same people going to react when he told them that they would be dumping the boy at the next port and sailing off without him. For a minute, Hudson toyed with the idea of calling the admiral back and making him explain it to them. Then he could see for himself what kind of backlash Hudson would be facing when he told them. He'd consider himself lucky if they didn't mutiny or lynch him on the spot.

Taking a deep breath, he gave orders to proceed at full speed to the nearest port, and summoned his senior staff to the wardroom.

Their reactions were everything that he expected. Horrified, disgusted, angry...

Hudson ran through all the arguments. Lucas would receive a better quality of care in an actual hospital with proper facilities. Even Doctor Perry had to allow that this could be beneficial to him, that they would have equipment that the seaQuest didn't have. And the military staff couldn't deny that taking an injured crewman into a battle zone was not a good idea - he would be vulnerable during any kind of attack, and as they all knew, in times like these, during conflicts, space in the med bay could be at a premium. If there were casualties, the medical staff would be unable to tend to his needs, needing to prioritize immediate casualties.

Every single argument made perfect, logical sense.

But it didn't stop it from feeling very, very wrong.

Lucas' mother was mentioned, and they were horrified - if not surprised - that she wanted nothing to do with him. Then Nathan Bridger was mentioned, and this time there was very real surprise that he had been out of contact for some time and was unlikely to make an appearance in time to be able to help their ensign.

And nobody could think of anyone else who could look after him. There was nothing they could do.

There wasn't a person sitting at the table who couldn't imagine how their youngest ensign would feel about being shipped off and abandoned. Again.

But they had to concede the point. The UEO had logic and reasoning on their side, and all they had were...feelings. They all understood that they really had no choice in the matter, orders were orders, even if they didn't like them.

There were only two things left to discuss.

Who would tell Tony, and who would tell Lucas?

Commander Ford volunteered to speak to Lucas, he felt it would be better coming from a friend. Nobody stepped up to save Captain Hudson from breaking the news to Tony and Dagwood.

It didn't go well for either of them, but neither of them had thought it would.

Despite all of the carefully reasoned arguments, Tony and Dagwood were respectively angry and incredulous. When Hudson was thinking about this interview in his head, he had thought that convincing Dagwood would be fairly simple compared to the anger he felt sure would come from Piccolo. In reality, he found it a lot harder to argue against Dagwood's feelings than to parry Tony's angry protests. He could counter Tony's 'you can't do this!' quite easily (he could, he had to, and he would), but when faced with Dagwood's simple 'but Doctor Perry said he would need his friends', he found it hard to respond. It didn't matter, though. In the end, however much they argued, it came down to one thing. Orders were orders.


When Commander Ford had entered the med bay with Doctor Perry, Lucas was still sleeping, Tony and Dagwood at his side. Ford quietly told them to go to Captain Hudson's quarters, and then sat down beside Lucas. He looked up at the Doctor.

"Can I wake him?"

She tightened her lips in disapproval. "I don't see that there's any other choice. He wouldn't thank you if the first he knew about this was waking up in a few hours in a UEO hospital, with no explanation of how he got there. At least this way his friends will have a chance to say goodbye to him first."

Ford nodded. Perry moved away, enough to give them privacy, but close enough to be at hand if she was needed.

Ford put his hand on Lucas' shoulder, and gently shook him awake.

"Lucas."

Lucas woke up slowly, bleary and confused. "Commander?"

"Hey Lucas. How are you feeling?"

Lucas answered slowly. He knew that Commander Ford would not wake him up just to ask him how he was feeling. "Okay, I guess." It was an obvious lie.

He looked at Ford with dread. The commander looked nervous and uncomfortable, and Lucas felt a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. What could be worse than the news he'd received only a few hours ago, and what could make the normally so composed commander look so upset? How much worse could this day - was it a day? He had no sense of time right now - possibly get?

"Lucas, I'm sorry, I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Lucas just stared at him.

"We've been given an assignment. Our orders are to assist with hostilities at one of our borders. We're expecting a fight, and possibly heavy casualties. It would be...," he paused, reaching for the right word, "...irresponsible to take you with us."

Jonathon Ford would not have thought it possible that Lucas could lose any more color, but his face drained to a grey pallor.

"You're sending me away?" he whispered.

Ever since he had heard the diagnosis, he had thought this might happen, but he had expected that they would wait a little longer than this...

"Just until the dispute is settled! You'll be taken to a UEO medical facility at the next port. They'll have better facilities and equipment in a hospital, so you'll receive much better care than you would here, and we can collect you again when it's all over."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would you collect me again when it's all over? I'll still be bedridden or in a wheelchair then. I don't think that's going to push me to the top of seaQuest's 'most valuable crewmember' list. Why would you bother picking me up afterwards?"

Jonathon felt as though he had sent the whole day running between emotional and logical arguments. It wasn't his specialty.

"Because you're one of us, you're one of the crew," was the best he could do.

Both of them knew how weak that sounded.

"Sure," said Lucas, resigned. "When do I have to leave?"

"We should be docking in about two and half hours."

Lucas was truly shocked at this. "Two and half hours?"

He couldn't even arrange his thoughts. He had sacrificed himself to save his captain, and they couldn't even give him a full day to say his goodbyes before they kicked him off the boat?

"What about my stuff?"

"Tony can pack whatever you'll need for a short stay," Jonathon wanted to make sure he understood this wasn't permanent. "Just let him know what you want to take with you."

Lucas nodded slowly. He looked ...

Jonathon tried to place his expression, and then it came to him.

He looked betrayed.